post rock / progressive
There are some bands who definitely state their idea of music within the name itself. The Kompressor Experiment from Switzerland is one of these bands, with a name that is partially German and English, even though Kompressor is only spelled a little differently. Nevertheless, what is a Kompressor Experiment? Are they experimenting with compressing air or rather – are they trying to push a lot of ideas into a record?
Well, the Sion-based quartet shows with the title and cover of their new record already which musical concept they are following: “2001” – more than a nod to Kubrick’s famous science-fiction classic – is a record that is as much influenced by movies as it is (seemingly) following bands like Tides from Nebula, Cinematic Orchestra or Oh, Hiroshima. The record is pure post-rock but with a lot of sounds seemingly straight from the modern movie alphabet. The cover is like a scene from Gravity with one astronaut apparently lost in space hanging on to the thin air tube for dear life.
“EMP.AI” is a good example for the cinematic aspect of the record as the track follows a long winding road through America’s Monument Valley with a lot of dust being whirled up because of a long trail of horses following a single rider trying to escape the attack of the wild west gang behind him. Or it is an astronaut finding himself in a sandstorm on Mars – both ideas are being promoted by the western-like, sandy sound of the guitar which purrs like taken from a Sergio Leone – movie.
However, there is more to “2001”; the band is capable of playing crunching and gut-wrenching riffs, especially “Monolith I” (a kind of non-linear triptych on the album) is able to show real force and power and to combine all of the band’s ideas and motifs. The beginning could be a soundtrack to a new science-fiction movie with all its industrial synthesizer-like sounds – resembling the engine of a spaceship slowly passing by – opening the album before a strong, powerful riff kicks in and leads the track into a futuristic wasteland scenario.
The three longtracks are not always nicely balanced, some parts may be a bit long – to use a movie-like comparison: Not all movies are one-shots. Nevertheless, by and large, the band really shows a lot of promising ideas and blends them into a more than solid post-rock record with a strong concept and a lot of nicely ambiguous details.
Thorsten
Well, the Sion-based quartet shows with the title and cover of their new record already which musical concept they are following: “2001” – more than a nod to Kubrick’s famous science-fiction classic – is a record that is as much influenced by movies as it is (seemingly) following bands like Tides from Nebula, Cinematic Orchestra or Oh, Hiroshima. The record is pure post-rock but with a lot of sounds seemingly straight from the modern movie alphabet. The cover is like a scene from Gravity with one astronaut apparently lost in space hanging on to the thin air tube for dear life.
“EMP.AI” is a good example for the cinematic aspect of the record as the track follows a long winding road through America’s Monument Valley with a lot of dust being whirled up because of a long trail of horses following a single rider trying to escape the attack of the wild west gang behind him. Or it is an astronaut finding himself in a sandstorm on Mars – both ideas are being promoted by the western-like, sandy sound of the guitar which purrs like taken from a Sergio Leone – movie.
However, there is more to “2001”; the band is capable of playing crunching and gut-wrenching riffs, especially “Monolith I” (a kind of non-linear triptych on the album) is able to show real force and power and to combine all of the band’s ideas and motifs. The beginning could be a soundtrack to a new science-fiction movie with all its industrial synthesizer-like sounds – resembling the engine of a spaceship slowly passing by – opening the album before a strong, powerful riff kicks in and leads the track into a futuristic wasteland scenario.
The three longtracks are not always nicely balanced, some parts may be a bit long – to use a movie-like comparison: Not all movies are one-shots. Nevertheless, by and large, the band really shows a lot of promising ideas and blends them into a more than solid post-rock record with a strong concept and a lot of nicely ambiguous details.
Thorsten
